I thought the 505CST was supposed to be closer to 40-50 stories? If it 33 stories it would be like a thud because the height combined with the shape is what gives it flare.

Not so much. It will be 605' tall and its location's elevation is roughly 500 feet above sea level. The Batman Building for instance sits about 445 feet above sea level, so 505 CST will appear to be much taller than it actually is.

I also understand that the North Gulch area is being cleared for development. That would the area start at the Church Street viaduct and going across Charlotte Pike. Does anyone have any idea what the plans are for that area. I know at one point it there was a plan to build a couple of office and residential towers.

The 30-acre site in the North Gulch will be a mixed-use project by Boyle Investments out of Franklin and Northwestern Mutual. No word on the future retail tenants for the site yet, but the IKEA rumors continue to swirl. Here's a NBJ article from just yesterday about the IKEA rumors.

Atlanta-based SWH Residential Partners hopes to break ground in February 2013 on its approximately $40 million Germantown apartment building following design approval earlier this week from the Metro Development and Housing Agency Design Review Committee.

The 282-unit building, tentatively to be called Werthan Flats, will front Fifth Avenue North across from Morgan Park. (Read more here.) SWH still must get approval on Nov. 14 from the Metro Historical Zoning Commission regarding design of the new building. MHZC already approved SWH’s handling some demolition on the site.

“Our intention is to do on-site demolition in the second week of January,” said John Tirrill, SWH managing partner. “We hope to being site work in February.”

Tirrill said the project will require about 18 months and will include the construction of Werthan Flats, which is a working name, and the rehabbing of a small building located at the northeast corner of the Fifth Avenue North and Taylor Street T-intersection.

In addition, SWH hopes to save long term a warehouse on the Werthan site and that Werthan Packaging Inc. continues to use.

“Our intent is to do adaptive reuse of the building with office and commercial space,” Tirrill said.

On a related note, Tirrill said SWH plans to have in December a rendering of its proposed Rolling Mill Hill apartment building. Florida-based Baker Barrios Architects is tentatively giving the five-story unnamed building (read more here) a neo-art deco design. Des Moines, Iowa-based Principal Global Real Estate Investors is the owner of the project, while SWH will serve as the fee development manager. Groundbreaking is tentatively slated for March 2013.

The apartment boom is heading to East Nashville.
A local developer is planning a 70-unit apartment project at the corner of Main Street and McFerrin Avenue.

Adam Leibowitz is leading a group of local investors that has a two-acre parcel under contract at 909 Main St. Leibowitz is the co-founder and managing partner of Double A Development and formerly worked for Franklin-based Bristol Development Group.

"There is not a lot of competition in East Nashville and there isn't a new construction apartment project that’s been built over there in a long time," Leibowitz said.

Work on the four-story midrise is slated to start early next year, Leibowitz said. The development will include 22 townhome-style apartments with their own garages. The project is expected to be complete by the fall of 2013.
The total cost of the project, including the land, will be about $7.4 million, Leibowitz said.

Hardaway Construction is the general contractor. The project's lead architecture firm is Quirk Designs. The lender is Avenue Bank.
Units will range from 650 to 1,100 square feet in size, with rents starting at $800 and topping out at $1,300.

"There are a lot of people that want to live in East Nashville but just can't find this kind of living," Leibowitz said. "Compared to the Gulch we are a bargain."

That east Nashville project should fit in very nicely at that intersection and hopefully will begin a whole new development phase for the underdeveloped and bland Mainstreet corridor. Mainstreet if done properly could be a great passage way in and out of the city core with mixed use developments. I would say that it is a prime location for a town center type development with a combination of office, residential, retail, dinning and small entertainment venues (i.e. a movie theater for independent, short run films, small concert/dinner hall). Of course it wouldn't hurt to have a nice mid-scale performing/visual arts center built along Main Street.

Are there any talks whatsoever to do something about the Trinity Lane/Brick Church Pike area? I was in Nashville back in late September and got off of I-24/65 at Trinity Lane and was just dumbfounded at how deplorable that area looks now. Not that it was ever a gem for the city, but at least it looked decent, safe and had places to pull in for a quick bite, a couple of decent hotels, etc. The Howard Johnson seems to try to keep itself going, but what happened to the Ramada? And, given the location it seems crazy that gas stations are closed.

This is a major interestate intersection as you approach the city core. It is ashamed that it has such a run down look and quite frankly looks seedy. Is the city doing anything to address this area? It needs a complete overhaul. It really should be converted into an office park type area with hotels like Wingate, Wyndham Garden, Courtyard Suites, Staybridge Suites, restaurants like IHOP, Panera's, Chipotle, Chili's, 5 Guys, Subway, a few fast food places, and there needs to be a retail drug store like Walgreen's. There's no need for major office buildings, etc. Just complexes that offer office suites. Buildings that range from 2-10 stories. Offices that can be used by a variety of businesses include doctors and dentists.

Couple of new announcements that I don't believe have been posted here. Nashville is getting its own Melrose Place :lol:: mixed-use project and adaptive re-use of the Melrose Theater site on 8th Avenue is ready to start. This will bring 220 new residential units to Berry Hill and new retail. The Melrose Billiards will remain on the bottom level.

Also, a new "creative campus" called Pantheon Park has been proposed across from the new Music City Center. The 7.5-acre site is currently under contract.

Franklin-based Parkes Development Group and Nashville-based Fulcher Investment Properties announced today they have finalized financing and have broken ground for their long-awaited Franklin Road project in the Melrose section of Berry Hill.

Principal Real Estate Investors, led by Travis Johnson, is providing the financing, terms of the financing were not disclosed in a press release. Jim Gunn, with Vista Commercial Mortgage, facilitated the effort.

The seven-acre project (the site for which is seen in the upper half of this photo courtesy of Google Maps) will include 220 luxury apartments and the adaptive re-use of the historic Melrose Theater building, which is located at 2600 Franklin Road.

Parkes Development Group, led by Joe Parkes Jr., and Fulcher Investment Properties, overseen by Ed Fulcher, have been planning the project since the 2010. Previously, and in the mid-2000s, a different entity razed a bowling alley on the site in the hopes of undertaking a different type project but failed to make it materialize.

In February, Fulcher and Parkes paid $4.7 million for the seven-acre site and created Melrose Partners for the undertaking (read more here).

The project will include the rejuvenation of the 1942 Art Moderne theater building. Two apartment buildings with 86 units will be attached to the existing center’s side and rear, with 134 apartments added directly behind the building.

“Our construction company was founded across the street in 1978,” Parkes said in a release. “We used to celebrate obtaining a job at the Sutler and to have the opportunity to bring this building back to life and add a great apartment community is what makes our business rewarding.”

Parkes said the partners anticipate the theater lobby housing a restaurant with the existing in-line retail being expanded to include shops ranging from 1,200 to 4,800 square feet. The 60-year-old Melrose Billiards, located in the building’s lower level, will stay.

“That’s a Nashville institution and as long as they want to stay we want them to stay,” Parkes said.

Nashville-based EOA Architects is coordinating the design work for the theater and retail space, while Humphreys Partners Architects is using its e-Urban design for the multi-family effort.

“The barrel vaulted movie theater and former Scene Three sound stage will be turned into a spectacular 7,000-square-foot resident amenity area,” Fulcher said. “The adaptive reuse of the former theater will create a place for residents to enjoy that is unlike anything else in town.”

A Nashville real estate investor has 7.5-acres of prime property across from the Music City Center convention hall under contract with plans for a campus that developers hope would give the city an edge in attracting and retaining members of the “creative class.”

McIntyre Ventures see its planned Pantheon Park development becoming the gathering spot for performers, writers, coders, digital gamers, music and entertainment producers, videographers and artists. Its plans include performance halls, production and recording studios and an accelerator targeting entrepreneurs and developmental stage technologies.

“The basic premise is to take the music and entertainment vertical that Nashville is well-known for and wrapping technology around it to retain and attract more computer science-oriented individuals and creative talent in both entertainment and technology,” said local developer Tom Baldridge, founder of McIntyre Ventures and Pantheon Park.

McIntyre Ventures’ contract is with the United Methodist Publishing House, which owns the property the includes its headquarters, Cokesbury bookstore near the new roundabout and three parking lots. The 7.5-acre property is bounded by several streets including Eighth Avenue South, Tenth Avenue South, Demonbreun Street and Lea Street.

With the Music City Center on track to open in May, demand has surged for land and other properties around that area south of Broadway. Several developers planning hotels have bought properties in the shadow of the convention hall for new projects including a recent sale of a parcel that set a record for price paid for developable land near downtown.

Fred Kane, vice president of land services with commercial real estate firm Cassidy Turley in Brentwood, estimates that the 7.5-acre site could fetch more than $40 million.

“It’s the best site in Nashville,” he said, citing the 30 acres along Charlotte Pike that owner Northwestern Mutual and Boyle Investment Co. are planning to redevelop that was a temporary home for the Greyhound bus station as another prime site. “To have 7.5 acres across the street to a $1 billion convention center and hotel, that’s unbelievable.”

As the music and other industries transition to the digital age, Baldridge said the goal of McIntyre Ventures is to build an environment where creative types can function at a high level. “We’re not the ones that are going to solve the problem,” he added. “We want to create the sandbox if you will and provide the necessary equipment — whatever they need in terms of human resources and other resources to accomplish their goals.”

Mark Montgomery, a Nashville-based serial music technology entrepreneur who got a peep at plans for Pantheon Park considers scale of the project ambitious. “Whether its achievable and whether the market actually demands it is another question,” he added. “It would be awesome if it was to happen. If they could pull it off, it would be great.”

Montgomery said timing of delivery of Pantheon Park would be critical to its success, adding that Nashville is still building a critical mass of coders, tech entrepreneurs and other creative types that would be targeted by the project. “Do you build it and hope they’ll come or do you scale against demand?,” he said, suggesting that the best option might be to develop the project in phases beginning with parts that could be filled first.

Locally based Tuck-Hinton Architects is working with McIntyre Ventures on the design.

Are there any talks whatsoever to do something about the Trinity Lane/Brick Church Pike area? I was in Nashville back in late September and got off of I-24/65 at Trinity Lane and was just dumbfounded at how deplorable that area looks now. Not that it was ever a gem for the city, but at least it looked decent, safe and had places to pull in for a quick bite, a couple of decent hotels, etc. The Howard Johnson seems to try to keep itself going, but what happened to the Ramada? And, given the location it seems crazy that gas stations are closed.

This is a major interestate intersection as you approach the city core. It is ashamed that it has such a run down look and quite frankly looks seedy. Is the city doing anything to address this area? It needs a complete overhaul. It really should be converted into an office park type area with hotels like Wingate, Wyndham Garden, Courtyard Suites, Staybridge Suites, restaurants like IHOP, Panera's, Chipotle, Chili's, 5 Guys, Subway, a few fast food places, and there needs to be a retail drug store like Walgreen's. There's no need for major office buildings, etc. Just complexes that offer office suites. Buildings that range from 2-10 stories. Offices that can be used by a variety of businesses include doctors and dentists.

Unfortunately, I am not aware of any plans for improvements to the Trinity Lane area. I agree that the area needs a total overhaul. I'm not too fond of the giant trailer home community off Dickerson Pike that's visible from I-65 either. I'm not sure if there is much immediate hope for revitalization of some of these rough areas that are not really surrounding by neighborhoods already turning over. It would take some brave investor willing to take a risk.

Are there any talks whatsoever to do something about the Trinity Lane/Brick Church Pike area? I was in Nashville back in late September and got off of I-24/65 at Trinity Lane and was just dumbfounded at how deplorable that area looks now. Not that it was ever a gem for the city, but at least it looked decent, safe and had places to pull in for a quick bite, a couple of decent hotels, etc. The Howard Johnson seems to try to keep itself going, but what happened to the Ramada? And, given the location it seems crazy that gas stations are closed.

This is a major interestate intersection as you approach the city core. It is ashamed that it has such a run down look and quite frankly looks seedy. Is the city doing anything to address this area? It needs a complete overhaul. It really should be converted into an office park type area with hotels like Wingate, Wyndham Garden, Courtyard Suites, Staybridge Suites, restaurants like IHOP, Panera's, Chipotle, Chili's, 5 Guys, Subway, a few fast food places, and there needs to be a retail drug store like Walgreen's. There's no need for major office buildings, etc. Just complexes that offer office suites. Buildings that range from 2-10 stories. Offices that can be used by a variety of businesses include doctors and dentists.

I think every city has a less than desirable area, and this is one of Nashville's. There are very few decent restaurants and other upscale businesses in this area basically because it is a high crime area. There are a few exceptions in the area but this area is not going to transform for a long time and there is not a lot of interest in changing it and the per capita income in that area is rather low too. One bright spot may be an area on Brick church Pike that NYC Mellon bank is building a 27 million dollar processing center but that is about it. I do think that there is going to be an overhaul of the Interstate in that area because it is a Cluster at rush hour.

As blunt as this comment is, I quite frankly would rather that area stay the way it is. I am glad East Nashville has transformed from a project ridden area to a new hip area for new homeowners and young professionals but it has pushed all the degenerates into some of the suburban areas outside of Nashville that are bordering the county line. For instance Hermitage, TN, crime has grown 10% over the recent years. South Nashville is getting worse and so is North Nashville. Yes with a growing city comes more crime though the city I gave an example of, there was barely much crime going on in that area until recently over the past few years. So yes, please develop some areas where needed but atleast keep the other dilapidated areas intact so that crime does not spread into other areas of town. The best way to turn an area around is through law enforcement in those areas to keep them at bay.

As blunt as this comment is, I quite frankly would rather that area stay the way it is. I am glad East Nashville has transformed from a project ridden area to a new hip area for new homeowners and young professionals but it has pushed all the degenerates into some of the suburban areas outside of Nashville that are bordering the county line. For instance Hermitage, TN, crime has grown 10% over the recent years. South Nashville is getting worse and so is North Nashville. Yes with a growing city comes more crime though the city I gave an example of, there was barely much crime going on in that area until recently over the past few years. So yes, please develop some areas where needed but atleast keep the other dilapidated areas intact so that crime does not spread into other areas of town. The best way to turn an area around is through law enforcement in those areas to keep them at bay.

Seriously?

Crime is slowly marching its way to the suburbs in almost every city. Asking for your city to leave various areas under developed to protect the outer lying suburbs from the degenerates is pretty ignorant. Would you also like to see some of these nice shiny new towers become office parks out in the suburbs? Transitioning urban neighborhoods is best for every city.

If the property values in the suburbs are dropping because more big money people are moving back into the city, so be it.

As blunt as this comment is, I quite frankly would rather that area stay the way it is. I am glad East Nashville has transformed from a project ridden area to a new hip area for new homeowners and young professionals but it has pushed all the degenerates into some of the suburban areas outside of Nashville that are bordering the county line. For instance Hermitage, TN, crime has grown 10% over the recent years. South Nashville is getting worse and so is North Nashville. Yes with a growing city comes more crime though the city I gave an example of, there was barely much crime going on in that area until recently over the past few years. So yes, please develop some areas where needed but atleast keep the other dilapidated areas intact so that crime does not spread into other areas of town. The best way to turn an area around is through law enforcement in those areas to keep them at bay.

I think most people in Nashville don't know the full demographics of certain areas to understand the potential so may different areas have. Most areas are not as bad as people might think. Usually it is an isolated pocket within an area that people will judge the entire area against. East Nashville and North Nashville usually get such a bad rap for that reason. East Nashville seems to be rising above its once negative image. Small parts of North Nashville seem to be doing the same, but overall there are still so many misconceptions about the areas near Fisk, MeHarry and TSU. But that's another topic.

The immediate Trinity Lane area is primarily commercial. Thus the reason why I believe that it can be transformed if encouraged by the city and by the chamber. I'm not talking about converting the area into a major office park for high end businesses. I think it will serve primarily as a transitional area for travelers. However, if you inject a couple of small office complexes into the mix, then it won't rely soley on travelers and it could sustain a more permanent base of small businesses. Surely hotels like Comfort Inn Suites, Farifield Inn & Suites, Springhill Suites, Wingate, Ramada, Holiday Inn or a Baymont would all benefit from the closeness to the interstate, downtown and ease of access to other areas of Nashville. I also believe IHOP, Chipotle, 5 Guys, up to a Friday's or Chili's would work well in the area. Certainly a family oriented place like Bob Evans, Shoney's, even a a buffet restaurant like Golden Corral or Old Country Buffet would work well.

Bring in places like those and sprucing up the gas stations, the Howard Johnson and add a Walgreens' or CVS and it will serve quite a few travelers easily and give the locals in and around the area a better mix of businesses to support.

Metropolitan Bank picks West End site for Nashville HQ
Memphis Biz Journal

Quote:

The Memphis-based bank first established a presence in the Nashville-area in December, when it opened a Brentwood office. While that office will remain open, the new location at 1701 West End Ave. will serve as the bank's Nashville headquarters.

Austin, Texas-based Forestar Group Inc. is targeting a mid-2013 construction start date for its proposed West End Park residential development.

Relatedly, the company — which created Westmont Property Holdings LLC for the development — has released a rendering and identified some of the participants for the apartment project.

Westmont Property Holdings is using Niles Bolton Associates for design work and Civil Site Design Group for various engineering efforts. Niles Bolton, which is based in Atlanta, is the architect for ParkCentral, an eight-story 200-unit residential mid-rise now under construction on 25th Avenue North and facing Centennial Park. (Read more here.) Civil Site is Nashville-based.

No general contractor has been named yet, according to Anna Torma, Forestar’s media relations director.

Tentatively to be called Westmont Apartments and to be located on Acklen Park Drive one-half block north of Outback Steakhouse, the 324-unit building will replace The Westmont. The latter, a modernist architectural style apartment complex, will see its last tenants leave by May 2013.

Forestar’s FMF Westmont LLC paid $11.5 million the property. The company then created Westmont Property Holdings.